The present invention relates to a method and a device for administering at least one substance, or treatment agent, directly to or in close proximity to a plant or plant material. Such substances include, but are not limited to, seeds, crop protection agents, growth enhancers, root hormones, fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, nematocides, treatment agents, or any mixture thereof.
Typically, a substance is administered to the plant or plant material by spraying, dripping or depositing the substance onto the plant material or onto the ground (substrate) where plant material is set or planted. This method of administration from a distance is highly inefficient: it involves considerable loss of the substance, a large quantity of the substance must be administered for it to be effective, and it may result in inaccurate administration of the substance on the plant or plant material or on an unintended location other than the plant or plant material. Much of these problems resulting from administering a substance from a distance may be attributed to drift of the substance, for instance, on an air current. It is also difficult to prevent vapour formation, which is temperature-dependent and difficult to predict; as a result, the amount of liquid substance delivered to the plant, plant material or plant location is much lower than originally intended.
Furthermore, if there are already plants growing in or on the ground (substrate), their leaves may block access to the plant or plant material, thus affecting the accuracy of the dosage of substance or treatment agent administered to said plant or plant material.
There is also a problem of contamination on the surface of the plant material when a substance is administered from a distance.
Another means of administering a substance to a substrate is to inject the substance into fertilizer and then distribute the fertilizer over a field or meadow. This method is problematic in that an accurate dosage of a substance and an accurate location for delivery of the substance to a plant material cannot be controlled. Injected fertilizer is distributed evenly over a field or meadow, thus the substance is wastefully distributed to locations that will not receive plant material.
It would, therefore, be useful to have an alternative, more efficient and accurate means of administering a substance to plant material, which avoids surface contamination of the plant material and minimizes substance waste.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.